I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 465: Amakusa — It Is a Priest's Duty to Listen to the Confusion of Lost Lambs
Although Jeanne had spoken with great confidence in front of Enkidu, the moment she was alone, she immediately crouched down, clutching her head in despair.
"Damn it! How the hell am I supposed to make this plot work?! Damn Master—no—you pigheaded jerk! Go die ten thousand times!"
Jeanne knew very well that, although she had devoted most of her acting energy to portraying Jeanne Alter during the Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons production, that was only because playing the white Jeanne came naturally to her. She didn't have to spend much effort interpreting the role.
But this time was different.
Now she had to make the pure, saintly version of herself triumph over the overwhelmingly powerful dark version of herself. That required real storytelling and dramatic composition.
But what did a peasant girl from Orléans know about writing plots?
If she actually knew how to write one, would she have gone begging Shinji for a script?
After spending an entire sleepless night thinking it over, Jeanne carefully summarized her own strengths and weaknesses, along with the respective states of her white and black selves at the point where the script reached their climactic showdown.
In the end, she realized that if Saint Jeanne was going to defeat the Black Witch, everything depended on whether she could properly utilize her key skill: Revelation.
Most of the time, Revelation functioned similarly to Instinct—both manifested as vague premonitions. But their scopes were vastly different. Instinct was merely a sixth sense used during combat, whereas Revelation applied to anything related to accomplishing one's objectives.
In fact, it was precisely because Jeanne possessed Revelation that Shinji had simply thrown up his hands and entrusted such an important scene entirely to her.
As Shinji himself had put it:
"The stuff I write isn't that great anyway, so screw it—I'll trust in God."
For a military commander, Revelation was undeniably an extraordinary ability. It was the very thing that had allowed a simple village girl to achieve victory after victory on the battlefield.
Yet at the same time, it placed an enormous psychological burden upon Jeanne.
She felt that the judgments she received through Revelation lacked any rational basis. She couldn't properly explain them to others, which only led people to place blind faith in her.
Was that a good thing?
No.
Not at all.
Jeanne had always harbored a deep distrust toward Revelation. More accurately, she feared the blind worship it inspired.
They only trust me because of Revelation.
If Revelation ever failed... would they stop believing in me?
Or perhaps...
Were the people gathered around her truly placing their faith in her, or were they merely trusting her intuition? Or perhaps what they really believed in was God's protection over her?
After all, Jeanne was a sincerely devout Christian.
Questions of faith, combined with her own lack of self-confidence, only intensified the pressure weighing on her heart.
From the perspective of modern psychology, Jeanne's endless anxiety was clearly unhealthy. She needed to see a therapist.
Unfortunately, while the film crew had arranged for a psychologist, it wasn't for the Heroic Spirits.
Which made sense.
What kind of magus would choose psychology as a profession? As if they didn't already have enough grimoires to study.
Forget psychologists—even ordinary physicians were rarely a career path magi chose.
Fortunately, while Shinji's production lacked psychologists, it had no shortage of priests willing to listen.
"So you're earning extra income on the side now?"
Looking at Amakusa sitting across from her, Jeanne wore an expression full of exasperation.
Amakusa responded with the warm, professional smile of a priest.
"Please don't put it that way, Saint Jeanne. There are many ways to save people. Listening to their worries, understanding their suffering, and helping them overcome hardship—that too is a form of salvation."
Jeanne snorted.
"I thought you'd just say, 'God forgives you. Amen,' and leave it at that."
Amakusa smiled bitterly.
"I'm not selling indulgences. Please don't lump me together with priests who only preach without acting. True salvation comes from helping people overcome their hardships. Words of comfort only treat the symptoms. Actually lending a hand—that's what addresses the root cause."
"That sounds exactly like the sort of nonsense Master uses to sweet-talk people. He brainwashed you too, didn't he?"
Amakusa chose not to answer.
Instead, he placed a hand upon the Bible and spoke with complete sincerity.
"Jeanne, whatever troubles you have, you may tell me. I'll do everything I can to help."
Still not entirely trusting him, Jeanne cautiously asked,
"...Just you?"
"Actually, there's also a sister—Father Kotomine's granddaughter."
The moment Caren came up, Amakusa's expression became noticeably awkward, as though recalling an embarrassing chapter from his youth.
"But after hearing your troubles, she'd probably just grin happily and say something like,
'The only reason worthless trash like you is allowed to remain alive is to entertain me. What a good little dog you are~.'"
"...I'll stick with you."
Jeanne sighed.
She, too, placed a hand upon the Bible and began what was effectively a counseling session—
Or rather, a confession of the unease buried within her heart.
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After two days of preparation, the day finally arrived to film the battle between Jeanne Alter and Jeanne.
Thanks to Amakusa's counseling, Jeanne had finally found the right state of mind.
Her performance during filming was outstanding.
During the first half of the fight between Jeanne and Enkidu, Shinji, serving as the director, never once called, "Cut." He simply let the two perform the entire sequence in one continuous take.
Of course, another reason Shinji didn't interrupt was because this section was just a straightforward action scene.
In post-production, it would probably be edited into the first half of the dragon-slaying sequence as a warm-up fight before the main event.
The truly important part came next: the moment when White Jeanne seized an opening in Black Jeanne's defenses and turned defeat into victory.
The success of this scene depended entirely on whether the audience would find White Jeanne's comeback convincing.
Shinji wasn't expecting Jeanne to come up with some earth-shattering twist. He simply wanted to avoid ending up with another infamous "Martha" moment like the one in Batman v Superman.
At that moment, in front of the cameras, Jeanne—playing Black Jeanne—had White Jeanne, portrayed by Enkidu, completely on the defensive.
According to the shooting plan, Jeanne would play Black Jeanne throughout the first half of the battle, while Enkidu acted as White Jeanne's body double.
Jeanne's own scenes as White Jeanne would be filmed separately, consisting mostly of close-up facial shots.
This arrangement would continue until White Jeanne launched her counterattack. At that point, Enkidu would switch to playing the Black Jeanne who gets impaled, while Jeanne herself would take over the role of White Jeanne.
To help Enkidu make the performance look more convincing, Shinji had EMIYA project a replica of Jeanne's banner-lance.
Although, without the power of faith supporting it, EMIYA's projected banner was only a superficial imitation, it still possessed roughly the durability of a C-rank Noble Phantasm.
At the very least, it ensured the weapon wouldn't snap in half if Enkidu accidentally fought too vigorously during filming.
The only drawback was that EMIYA had to continuously supply magical energy to maintain the projection, leaving him unable to assist Shinji with the filming.
Naturally, Shinji had his own solution.
He simply dragged in EMIYA's backup replacement—Shirou Emiya.
"How utterly hideous... my own wretched dregs!"
In front of the camera, Black Jeanne burst into maniacal laughter as she hurled a volley of black spears, intending to skewer White Jeanne like meat on a kebab.
"And even in such a pathetic state, you still insist on fighting me to the end! There really is something wrong with your head!"
The black and white banners collided, showering the battlefield with brilliant sparks.
By this point, the role of Black Jeanne had been handed over to Enkidu as a temporary stand-in, while Jeanne herself had taken control of White Jeanne.
To help Jeanne stay immersed in the performance, Enkidu would actively recite Black Jeanne's dialogue during filming.
Admittedly, Enkidu's delivery lacked the frenzied malice that Black Jeanne required, so Jeanne would almost certainly re-record those lines herself during post-production.
Still, from the standpoint of acting opposite her, Enkidu's performance was already more than sufficient.
'Mm... Seeing two exquisitely beautiful girls sharing the same screen is surprisingly pleasing to the eye.'
Sitting before the monitor, Shinji admired the two Jeannes while silently musing to himself.
Normally, when filming chaotic battle scenes, directors give the heroes and villains very obvious visual markers so the audience can easily tell them apart.
This is especially important when both characters are the same person. For example, in Avengers: Endgame, during the fight between the two Captain Americas, one of them deliberately wasn't wearing his helmet so viewers could immediately distinguish which was which.
Jeanne, however, didn't need such treatment.
Even though they were both Jeanne, one was dressed entirely in black while the other was clothed in pure white. The contrast was so striking that even most color-blind viewers could easily tell them apart.
'Man... watching beautiful women fight is such a treat.'
'Though it'd be even better if both of them were actually women.'
Unfortunately, Shinji knew that was impossible.
When one person is playing two different roles, not even Shinji could make that same person appear as two separate individuals in the same shot.
If it had been a dialogue scene, he might have tried covering it up with magecraft. But for an action sequence like this—full of bone-crunching blows and clashing spears—there absolutely had to be a stunt double.
Unfortunately, the only all-purpose stand-ins he had on hand were a thief who happened to be skilled at singing, dancing, and performing... and a seemingly gentle yet secretly hot-tempered otokonoko beauty.
'Ahem!'
No, no. Enkidu is a genderless beauty—not some cross-dresser.
Shinji hurriedly corrected himself through sheer force of self-hypnosis.
He had to be careful. If those words ever slipped out, whether Enkidu got angry or not was one thing...
Gilgamesh definitely wouldn't let him off the hook.
'Man... if only the Nasuverse had a cute girl who could freely change her appearance.'
While the director irresponsibly indulged in his own shameless fantasies, White Jeanne—who had been completely overwhelmed by Black Jeanne until now—finally found an opening to answer back.
"I don't know what you mean by pathetic. But I do know that I only managed to stand before you because so many people helped me!"
Bang!
White Jeanne drove her banner hard into the ground.
A barrier of magical energy sprang forth, blocking several black spears that had been flying toward her.
"I've always been blessed by everyone's kindness."
"I'm truly fortunate."
Black Jeanne let out a scornful snort.
"Hmph. It's only because you're all weak that you have to huddle together for warmth."
But White Jeanne smiled.
"I've finally realized something."
"...What?"
"I've always been lost."
"Even though I'd already decided that defeating you and saving France was my goal... I never knew what kind of attitude I should have when facing you."
The Black Jeanne portrayed by Enkidu looked even more contemptuous.
"So weak... someone like you—"
"I've figured it out now!"
That's right.
I know I'm weak. Even though I was always aware of it, I never had the courage to face the darkness within myself.
But that's no longer true.
Jeanne took a deep breath.
At that moment, the Jeanne inside the script and the Jeanne outside it became one.
She—Saint Jeanne d'Arc—would no longer fear her own darkness.
"I am me."
"And you are you."
Jeanne spoke with absolute certainty.
"We are not the same person."
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